Why Three Day Road?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

• To learn about Canadian Culture and History
• To learn about the Effects of War
• Importance of Individual Family and Culture
• Don't do Drugs!
• Author uses powerful symbols that allows you to foreshadow and connect the dots in the story
• Above All : it is an engaging novel that blows away your mind

The novel, "Three Day Road"  allows us, Canadians, to learn about and experience our culture and history without actually going through it.  This novel focuses mainly on World War I and the culture of Aboriginals.  Through Elijah, Xaiver, and Niska, we can better understand what these events and culture bring to a person.  The many deaths we see happen in this book especially teach us how war must be prevented and the many negative things it bring to the environment and people.

We Canadians may have created our current government and settled the land, however, we must not forget the Aboriginals who lived here first and their culture that we forcibly took from them.  Through this, we can also learn the importance of one's own culture and family.  During the war, we see Elijah, Grey Eyes and eventually Xavier all take morphine to escape from the reality of war.  We see the effects of morphine may allow one to feel "good", but instead takes common sense and reality from their brain.  This is easily applicable to our own life as we go through a period of exploring drugs as teenagers.

Lastly, Boyden uses multiple symbols that are both powerful in message and mind-shattering.  It especially allows us to foreshadow many events which makes the book that much more engaging to read.  For example, Elijah's last name Whiskeyjack, which is a bird that feed on corpses, foreshadows him turning cannibalistic.  The bear that Niska's family kills and eat is also another symbol that foreshadows Niska's powers to see in the future and her ability as an windigo (cannibal) killer.